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Written by NICK SNELLING
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Bocairent is a small inland town of some 4,376 people situated in the south west of the Valencia province. It can be found by drawing a line due west from Javea and south from Ontinyent. he town lies at an altitude of 660m within a steep sided valley, with mountains close by reaching up to the L’Alt de Sant Jaume at 1,100m. The valley bottom is between three to four kilometres wide and is fertile and verdant. Indeed, the surrounding landscape is renowned for its beauty and so impressed the Valencian composer Lopez Chavarri (1871 – 1970) that he lyrically described this area as somewhere "the young picked their tokens of love, the ill recovered their spirit for life and scholars turned into poets".
Bocairent is a startling attractive town that resembles a beehive. Houses cling together in a marvellous jumble around a cone shaped hill to the summit of which is the church of the Virgin of the Ascension. Tiny streets wind around the town which has a central square dominated by high, ancient buildings that back onto the hillside.
The town has the full range of amenities. These include two pharmacies, five supermarkets, seven banks, one primary and one secondary school. There are an array of some seven bars and five restaurants, including L’Aljub which is built into the hillside and is like entering a cave. Bocairent also benefits from a brand new sports centre on the outskirts of the town which has an indoor swimming pool and sports centre.
On the Padrone to the 1st January 2005 there were 93 foreigners resident in Bocairent of whom 32 were Europeans. This number is set to increase as further Europeans move into the area in search of lower priced property and a traditional, rural Spanish lifestyle.
Communications from Bocairent are good. The major town of Ontinyent is only nine kilometres away, with Alicante airport an easy seventy kilometres drive south down the excellent N340. Valencia airport can be reached in a little over an hours drive by going north along the N340. The La Safor beaches and Gandia are only forty five kilometres away and can be reached by driving eastwards along the superb, new CV60.
Surrounding Bocairent are ample opportunities for excellent walking, riding and cycling. There is some excellent climbing nearby together with pot holing. During the summer swimming is popular in the nearby river. Bocairent shares the temperate climate of the rest of the province although winters are cooler and summers hotter than those experienced on the coast.
By Nick Snelling.
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